- Hammers No9 scored his second goal of pre-season at the weekend
- Carroll played 64 minutes after a week-long training block in Austria
- England striker ready to face NK Domzale in the UEFA Europa League
Currently going through his first full pre-season since signing for the Hammers, Carroll missed the opening two games of the Austria tour to concentrate on his work on the training ground.
Having returned to the pitch at the weekend, the 27-year-old forward cannot wait to score more goals and hit the ground running in 2016/17.
He explained: “It was good to get an hour in on Saturday, and good to get a goal and our first win of pre-season as well,” he said.
“The results don’t matter at this time of year but it’s obviously still nice to win. All the work the lads have been putting in over the last couple of weeks has been great.
“We created plenty on Saturday. We got enough crosses in and enough chances and I think the team going forward, and in defence too, is very good.
“For my goal, Sofiane passed it wide to Enner. He knows where I’m going to stand by now, and he just dinked it to the back post for me to get my head on it.”
The action starts for real on Thursday with the UEFA Europa League third qualifying round first leg at Slovenian side NK Domzale and Carroll says his pre-season regime has left him in the perfect place to show what he can do.
He continued: “We’ve had five games now so I think we’re ready to get it started. It’s important that we had those games to get everyone fit, and the training has been hard as well so the lads are looking forward to Thursday.
“I feel good. Missing the two games earlier in Austria was important for me to do my own work and regime to get myself fit. Obviously it showed with the goal and the 65 minutes on Saturday.”
The one downside to the victory over Karlsruher was an injury sustained by Aaron Cresswell and Carroll echoed the thoughts of his teammates in hoping the problem isn’t as bad as it first looked.
He added: “Hopefully the scan results come back and show the injury to not be as bad as first thought. We’ll just have to wait to see how it is.”
He continued: “We’ve had five games now so I think we’re ready to get it started. It’s important that we had those games to get everyone fit, and the training has been hard as well so the lads are looking forward to Thursday.
“I feel good. Missing the two games earlier in Austria was important for me to do my own work and regime to get myself fit. Obviously it showed with the goal and the 65 minutes on Saturday.”
The one downside to the victory over Karlsruher was an injury sustained by Aaron Cresswell and Carroll echoed the thoughts of his teammates in hoping the problem isn’t as bad as it first looked.
He added: “Hopefully the scan results come back and show the injury to not be as bad as first thought. We’ll just have to wait to see how it is.”